The first of two concerts by the Maestri of the master classes for the Pontine Festival in the castle of Sermoneta this year. A magical place which has been the summer seat of master classes since Menuhin and Szigeti brought their music to the Caetani Howard castle in the 1960’s
Marco Rizzi , Giovanni Gnocchi and Andrea Lucchesini playing in the antique infirmary of the Fossanova Abbey, continuing the tradition of sharing their mastery with aspiring young musicians .
The infirmary was beautifully restored some years ago by the founder of the Campus Musicale di Latina , Riccardo Cerocchi.
A large wooden platform like the Horse of Troy standing so proudly in the middle of this beautiful simple edifice allowing all those that mount this mighty beast to share their music with the public seated below.
I remember listening to artists such as Alicia de Larrocha, Charles Rosen and Fou Ts’ong seated in a caravan outside the unrestored infirmary waiting to walk across the field to enter a rather rustic but noble edifice that has always been blessed with a superb acoustic.
Elisa Cerocchi now presiding over her father’s legacy fills the hall each year with a public starved of culture in a land that is blessed with beautiful beaches rather than concert halls.
It is an oasis eagerly awaited by people happy to enjoy the unique beauty of this part of Italy just 100km from Rome and Naples , but are also happy to have the opportunity to feed their souls in the balmy evenings with the glorious sounds of great music.
And great music their was tonight with the radiance of a Shigeru Kawai piano placed on high, carefully prepared by that technical magician Mauro Buccitti and placed in the masterly hands of Andrea Lucchesini ready to make music with his illustrious colleagues.
First on the cello with a Beethoven of unusual charm and grace with his variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ op 66 . Followed by the mellifluous simplicity of his early ‘ Spring ‘ Sonata for violin.
Crowning the evening with Schubert’s Trio in E flat D 929 with its ’Ghostly’ shadows creating an unearthly sheen on a very long and complex work often overlooked by it’s B flat partner, both prophetic works written in the last years of Schubert ‘s life so cruelly cut short at the age of 31.
The E flat trio with it’s slow movement which uses a Swedish Folk Song is better known as the music for the films Barry Lyndon or the Pianist rather than in the concert hall where Schubert’s sublime length can in lesser hands be overpowering!
A lesson in music making as our three masters listened and moulded the music together with chameleonic sensibility. A piano with it’s lid wide open that gave a glistening resonance to the sound but with such a masterly driver never devouring or dominating his fellow passengers on a voyage of discovery on high that they shared so generously with us below
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 